[@RenaissancePeriodization] Exercise Scientist Critiques Paddy The Baddy’s EXTREME Weight Loss Techniques

Link: https://youtu.be/gSo5l9AqAfg

Duration: 16 min

Short Summary

Dr. Mike, a professor of exercise sports science and competitive bodybuilder, hosts this RP Strength episode featuring Patty the Batty, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner from Liverpool known for his distinctive Scouse dialect. Patty reveals he lost 50 pounds for an upcoming fight, dropping from 205 lb to 155 lb, with the final pounds being water weight rather than tissue. The episode covers the science of weight cutting, including water loading protocols, glycogen depletion, and the safety risks of aggressive dehydration practices.

Key Quotes

1. "for every gram of glycogen, every gram of carbohydrate you consume and gets loaded into your muscles, your body puts in another 3 or so g of water" (00:06:47)
2. "water cuts under careful supervision and oversight when they're not much higher than about 7% of your body weight are typically quite safe for most people. uh if they're not properly supervised, if you do real stupid things, and as soon as you get to cutting over 7%, man, you're really uh entering some unlikely but realistic possibility of health complications. You can pass out in the sauna. You can have electrolyte disruptions, do weird things to your heartbeat. A few athletes, unfortunately, over the history of combat sport weight cutting have died from it." (00:05:35)
3. "if you are younger, if you are a child, if you are not high school age yet, water cutting is really stupid because you're just trying to build your baseline of skills and baseline of muscle mass to get you where you need to go" (00:12:12)
4. "Weight cutting is for highle athletes to do. It is not for most people cuz it's pointless. You'll just gain the water weight back" (00:11:58)
5. "which means I can pretend to know how to fight. I actually don't know how to fight unless people grab me and then sort of" (00:00:43)

Detailed Summary

Episode Overview

This RP Strength podcast episode features Dr. Mike (an exercise sports science professor, competitive bodybuilder, and BJJ black belt) coaching Patty the Batty, a combat sports athlete from Liverpool who speaks with the Scouse dialect of English. The episode focuses on Patty's weight cut from 205 lb down to 155 lb for an upcoming competition.

Weight Cut Strategy and Timeline

• Patty began his weight cut at 205 lb with a target of 155 lb, having lost the majority of the 50 lb through traditional dieting rather than water manipulation
• At seven weeks out, Patty was at approximately 190 lb, having floated above 200 lb outside of fight camp due to his love of eating food
• Dr. Mike calculated that at a 1,000 calorie daily deficit (2,000 intake vs. ~3,000 burned), Patty could expect to lose roughly 2 lb of tissue per week, requiring 6-7 weeks to reach the target weight
• Most of the final pounds lost will be water weight rather than tissue, as Patty approaches his weigh-in date

Water Cutting Science and Glycogen Depletion

• For every gram of carbohydrate loaded into muscles as glycogen, the body stores approximately 3 grams of water; eliminating carbs therefore causes significant water loss, which explains the rapid initial weight loss on keto diets
• Initial rapid weight loss on low carb or keto diets (10-15 lbs in the first week) is mostly body water from depleted glycogen stores, not actual fat loss
• The water loading protocol involves drinking 8 liters of water daily followed by complete carbohydrate cessation to flush glycogen and associated water from the muscles

Safety Concerns with Weight Cutting

• Water cuts over approximately 7% of body weight become risky and can lead to passing out in sauna, electrolyte disruptions, and heartbeat abnormalities; some combat sport athletes have died from weight cutting
• Hot baths or jacuzzis are commonly used for water cutting because the hot water causes significant sweating, helping remove body water
• Cutting water weight should never be done alone; someone should be present in the bathroom to prevent drowning if the person passes out
• Repeated weight cutting deteriorates the body, causes extreme hunger, and often results in bloating back to a higher weight than before the cut
• Weight cutting for middle school and high school athletes is particularly dangerous because undereating can impair brain development and stunt growth

Competition Day Recommendations

• Athletes should aim to be as low in weight as safely possible before a water cut to avoid dangerous practices while not sacrificing too much muscle
• Most federations other than professional ones like the UFC do not require 24-hour weight cuts; 2-hour cuts work fine for most organizations
• For weigh-ins, fighters should target about half a pound below their weight class on unofficial scales to have buffer for the official scale
• The sooner fighters start rehydrating after weigh-ins, the better they will perform on fight day

Sustainable Dieting Principles

• Healthy, sustainable diets should last 8-12 weeks and target losing approximately 0.5% of body weight per week
• A person weighing 200 lb can lose 1 lb per week through proper dieting, and completing 2 diets per year can result in 30-50 lbs of weight loss over time
• Patty claimed he has beaten most of the top UFC fighters in the world, technically speaking

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